The American Association of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery (ASSFN), serves as an affiliate joint section of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) and the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS), and remains deeply involved in a variety of educational, organizational and advocacy activities on behalf of North American functional neurosurgeons and our patients. It gives me enormous pride and pleasure to be the current president of the ASSFN. Many members of the society attended the meeting of our sister society, the World Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery (WSSFN) in Berlin. This meeting was held on June 26-29, 2017. It was, by all accounts, a tremendous success, with a large and international group of participants and many exciting papers. We are actively planning for the ASSFN biennial meeting, which will be held June 2-5, 2018, in Denver. This meeting is being organized by past president Aviva Abosch, MD, PhD, FAANS, and will be fantastic. Please mark your calendars now and plan to attend.

Members of the ASSFN/Stereotactic & Functional Section continue to lead the way in promoting scientific and clinical research. Our field is uniquely poised for continued growth with the increased interest in neuromodulation.

This offers our members unique access to human brain physiology, the opportunity to explore new indications and the potential to design new devices. We should embrace the new possibilities and constantly strive to advance the field in a rational, ethical and thoughtful fashion. I look forward to seeing you all at the upcoming meetings.

Sincerely yours,
Emad N. Eskandar, MD, MBA, FAANS
President, ASSFN

WSSFN 2017

The 17th Quadrennial Meeting of the World Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery (WSSFN) was held in Berlin from June 26-29, 2017. Joachim Krauss, MD, PhD, IFAANS, presided over the meeting, which was a tremendous success by all standards. He also officially ended his four-year term as president of WSSFN and handed over the leadership reins to Michael Schulder, MD, FAANS. The Scientific Program was vast and deep, thanks to the efforts of co-chairs Mojgan Hodaie, MD, MSc, and Jean Regis, MD. It covered the full range of topics relevant to stereotactic and functional neurosurgery, including movement disorders, pain, epilepsy, psychiatric neurosurgery, radiosurgery, spasticity and basic neuroscience research. A record 460 abstracts were submitted, and nearly 800 individuals registered to attend the meeting from 60 countries around the world. To encourage worldwide participation and foster excellence in clinical and basic research, six named awards were given out. The Spiegel-Wycis Award was given to Yves Lazorthes, MD, and Franciso Velasco, MD, PhD; the Tasker Award to David Roberts, MD, FAANS(L); the Mundinger Award to Itzakh Fried, MD, PhD, FAANS; and the Riechert Award was shared between Dario Englot, MD, PhD, and Hemmings Wu, MD, PhD. In addition, 24 travel awards were given to individuals from Africa, Europe, Asia and the Americas.

The Philip L. Gildenberg Resident Award in Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery was given at the 2017 AANS Annual Scientific Meeting to Sarah Bick, MD, a resident at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Her presentation was entitled, “Caudate Stimulation Enhances Human Associative Learning.” This work examined the role of the caudate nucleus in human learning. Epilepsy patients with depth electrodes implanted for clinical seizure localization participated in an associative learning task. Caudate beta power changes were seen during feedback, when subjects learned whether their response was correct, and changes were different for correct versus incorrect trials. Caudate stimulation during this same time epoch following correct trials improved learning and was associated with dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and nucleus accumbens power changes. This work suggests that caudate stimulation during reinforcement of correct associations enhances learning and is associated with power changes in both dopaminergic circuitry involved in reward processing and areas involved in associative processes, supporting a role for the caudate in integrating reward information with associations. Dr. Bick is a fifth year resident at the Massachusetts General Hospital. She plans to pursue fellowship training in stereotactic and functional neurosurgery, followed by a career as an academic functional neurosurgeon with an interest in epilepsy, movement and psychiatric disorders.

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President's Address

The American Association of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery (ASSFN), serves as an affiliate joint section of the AANS and CNS and remains deeply involved in a variety of educational, organizational and advocacy activities, on behalf of North American functional neurosurgeons and our patients. It gives me enormous pride and pleasure to be the current president of the ASSFN.

The mission of the American Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery is to foster the use of image guided and physiologically guided surgeries that alter the function of the nervous system, for treatment of neurological disorders. The Society will improve patient care, educate neurosurgeons, other physicians, allied medical specialists, and the general public, support basic and clinical research, and provide a forum at national and international meetings to fulfill these goals. Through its meetings, the Society will also establish minimum standards for the performance of stereotactic and functional neurosurgery. Read more